Teen with gun disciplined

January 15, 2014

CHAMPION - School officials in Champion have disciplined a 17-year-old student for bringing a gun on school property last month.

While declining to disclose the specifics of the discipline, Champion Superintendent Pamela Hood said the student, who police identified as Gregory M. Papp Jr. of 5375 Kuszmaul Ave. N.W., is not attending school at this time.

"We were informed that he had (the gun); the student was forthcoming about it," Hood said. "The student is a hunter. The student overlooked taking the rifle out of his trunk before he drove his car to school. I can tell you now the student is not in school.''

He has been disciplined according to board policy and within the parameters of the student handbook, she said.

On Dec. 16, police were called to Champion High School after school authorities were informed that Papp had a weapon in the trunk of his car. Officers searched the locked vehicle and recovered an unloaded .22 caliber rifle, 50 rounds of ammunition and one magazine, according to reports.

Papp was placed under arrest, and the rifle, magazine and ammunition were logged into evidence at the police station, a police report states.

Police contacted Trumbull County Juvenile Prosecutor Stanley Elkins, who advised them to charge the student with having a weapon on school property, a report states.

Elkins confirmed that Papp was charged with bringing the weapon onto school property and taken to the Trumbull County Juvenile Justice Center, but later released to his parents. He has since been placed on probation.

Although Papp never threatened anyone with the weapon and all evidence recovered from the vehicle supported the student's claim that he was going hunting after school, Hood said circumstance doesn't matter when it comes to bringing a gun on school property.